Goodbye
by St0ryTeller
Summary: (see title. it summarises it better than I could here)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all, been a while. So this is a one shot; unless you want more, then I'll consider it. Let me know..**

Aria was walking from Ezra's kitchenette, two cups of tea in her hands. She made her way to his couch, where he sat with his legs sprawled the length of the piece of furniture. She smiled though her smile only gave further insight into her pain. His eyes lifted from a distant corner of the apartment as she stepped closer, having rested the drinks on the coffee table. She stood next to him, silently asking if it was agreeable is she sat on his lap. He understood her immediately, so shifted a little so he was sitting with a straighter back, before opening his arms to her. She sat across his thighs and lent her body to his as his hands graced her upper arms repeatedly, rapidly; a desperate attempt to sooth their pain. She took a hurried, agonised breath, revealing to Ezra her emotions were tipping over and he kissed her cheek. He held his face next to hers as he felt a tear from her eye fall onto his cheek. He grew sadder and wrapped his arms so tight around her that it was a little painful, though neither were complaining. Her hand fell to the side of his outer thigh and she stroked it up and down.

The decision had been made. Months before, he had said to her "you're not going to break up your family to keep us together, it's not a choice", and the painful reality was that now she had to return the sentiment. 'If you love someone, you have to let them go,' and my god did they love each other. He had a beautiful boy who needed and deserved his father, and he had an ex who had gone without a partner's deserved moral support for too long; so Aria knew she had to say goodbye, though it wouldn't be happening for any other reason.

She turned so she was facing him, her knees either side of his legs and she placed her hand to his cheek, memorising the features as her eyes grew even more vulnerable than when they usually bore into his. He saw her heart breaking as he stared back into the smallest details in her eyes, wondering somehow if there was any way of her ever mending this pain. He cried and let out a soft sob as she pulled his head to the side of her neck, where he sobbed like an innocent child who had just lost the world. He loved Malcolm, and part of his would always love Maggie; though they weren't this love which he was being forced to tear himself away from. He didn't want to let her go.

"Ezra, baby, I love you so much, I-" she gave up trying to find the words before curling both of her hands through his hair and crying with her cheek pressed to his.

"I thought- I thought this was it, you and me. I can't believe this is what is happening," he rambled as he painfully pulled back from her to look into her eyes again. Her eyes fell to his lips. She moved forward and kissed him lingeringly. He was addicted to her lips, and this was them saying goodbye. He struggled a deep breath before clutching both of his hands at the sides of her waist, tightly making sure she wasn't planning on leaving him just yet. She moved her lips to his cheek, his chin, his neck and to the top of his chest while he confessed, "I thought I was going to be spending the rest of my days with you by my side. My beautiful Aria, I thought we were going to be woken by the child who interrupts our sleeping on a Sunday morning. This isn't it." His final sentence made her pull back from his body and look at him.

He was uncertain of what her look was saying. Heck he wasn't even sure what he was saying. Through the battling of his emotions, and he knew through her fighting hers; his mind was too foggy and he couldn't read her. _Is she thinking that this is indeed the end? Or is she thinking 'baby this isn't our end'? _He didn't know, and his body was tired from thinking, tired from his situation.

He pressed his hands into the small of her back. She smiled, deciding with him to focus on being there right then, and she unashamedly put her tongue into his mouth. His hands moved to the inside of her underwear and she smiled again. She noticed him smile too, and his breath was starting to relax.

"You'll always be my one and only. I'll never feel this way again, Ezra. You better write about me one day; about us one day. Then we'll have that," she spoke against his lips before staring deep in his eyes. A slight twitch of his mouth into a smile was confirmation enough that he couldn't ever forget her. Their movements picked up, love ensued, though sadness filled their air.

"I'm sorry," he whispered from a place of deep sincerity regarding their situation. She said nothing, and simply pressed her lips to his again as they continued to say their vowed goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2

**You lovelies. :)**

Her soft gasps in his ear teased him, completed him, ruined him. She screamed aloud, as did he, before they froze. Neither wanted to make the first move; the first move of their end. In the end, he decided it should be him and he removed himself from her body. She let out a soft gasp of a different kind now, the one that felt an immediate brush of freezing air on her body, a gasp that was realisation that was that portion of her life over.

He sighed heartedly before reaching for her hand, pulling her to her feet. He reached for her shirt next to the bed and put it over her head, while she stared through teary eyes into his. His hands fumbled as he reached for her arms, putting them through the holes of her top. She remained unmoving, ghostlike.

"Aria; this is hard enough, please-" he stopped when she wailed loudly and put her face to his chest. He pulled her to him, she still remained unmoving. Then she dropped to a crouch, collecting the rest of her clothes from the floor. She put on her knickers and put everything else in her handbag.

"It's cold love, please put those pants on," he pleaded as she put them in her bag. She slipped on her shoes, all while not speaking, then went for the door.

He got it, the intimate act they had just shared was their goodbye; a silent agreement which they would now follow if it killed them. Silently, without looking back, Aria opened his front door. She paused for only a second, before walking through it, closing it loudly behind her. He turned and sat on the edge of his bed, staring helplessly across it. He didn't expect to sleep that night.

**Months later**

"Ezra," a woman spoke with determination.

He froze in his shoes, pushing the phone closer to his ear, "Ella?" he asked, knowing full well it was her. Panic set in. "Is Aria okay?" he asked without hesitation.

"No Ezra, she's not. It's been months, as I'm sure you're full aware. She doesn't leave her room, but it's more than that. She doesn't leave her bed, Ezra. When we see her, it's to get food and water. She showers maybe once a week and has no desire to leave the house, progress. She has depression."

Her conclusive sentence immediately led to him blaming himself simultaneously while his heart broke.

"Since you left, Ezra, this has been her. No variation, no light, just going through those motions I've just told you. She no longer reads or writes even, she just _is,_" she concluded. "I need you to come see her. I have no other ideas," she pleaded.

He hung up his phone at those words and sat in his chair. Malcolm came to him.

"You look sick, dad. Bad tummy?" he asked innocently.

"Yeah bud, bad tummy. Can you get me a water?" he asked, tapping his shoulder softly, prompting Malcolm to immediately jump to the request.

Ezra remained there for an hour, talking himself into visiting her, knowing well he would again have to leave her. It was about 5pm when he set off on the hour drive to the Montgomery house.

"I knew you'd come. I knew you loved her too much not to try," Ella greeted, wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her back. "You know where to go," she gestured upwards towards the stairs. He blankly commenced the ascend, still unsure what he was going to say.

He knocked on her door. When only silence surrounded him instead of response, he pushed open her door. She had one eye visible from under her doona.

"Oh Christ, what are you doing here?" she spat, obvious to him the first thing she had said in a long time, as her voice was not her voice, but one of exhaustion and deep sadness. There was silent longing in the air, it could have been felt miles away.

Clearly not expecting that response, he remained pinned to the wall next to the door, having just closed it again. His heart broke all over again, severe, sharp pain-causing heartbreak as he stared at what he had done to her. Ella was right, there was no light, no willingness to do, anything.

Having no clue what to do, he went and sat next to her. After a few minutes, he felt her curl her body around him, her face along his outer thigh. He put his hand on her head, gently stroking her as he felt her body warm only slightly from the frozen girl he had initially walked in to see. He felt her take a huge, deep breath before nuzzling her face tighter to his body.

_To be continued. _


	3. Chapter 3

**So this is the concluding chapter. It was only a shortie, but its getting me back into the swing of this ol' dance known as writing. Hopefully going to publish stuff soon to knock your socks off, yes, and continuing with my other stories. **

He woke up the next morning, and immediately realised he felt at home. He was staring at a ceiling different to the sight he saw the previous morning. But his stomach was settled, his heart was warm, his mind the happiest it'd been in months. He then realised it was because Aria was in his arms. He kissed her forehead while she slept on his shoulder.

"I'm not leaving again," he told her softly, unsure if she was even awake.

"What?" she asked. She was awake. He smiled at the honesty of his words, feeling fully confident in his decision.

"I'm not leaving you again. It nearly killed us both. I can't do it again," he concluded, rubbing his arms the length of her body as she snuggled closer to him. She smiled contently. He was all she needed.

A few hours later, there was a knock at Aria's bedroom door. She and Ezra stopped their talking, their laughing, and she happily shouted "Come in!"

Ella pushed open Aria's bedroom door, smiling proudly carrying a tray of food. She was purely a woman experiencing the greatest amount of relief possible. She could hear through the house all morning sounds from her daughter's room she hadn't heard in months; Aria talking, laughing. Ella knew she was smiling. That sight had been a distant memory for too long.

"Hey," Ella said ecstatic, unsure of what else to say as she saw her daughter in Ezra's arms, in _her friend's_ arms. She was grateful though that that was where they were. "Remember to eat, okay?" she said smiling between the two of them as they smiled back, both thanking her before observing the stacks of pancakes she had placed on Aria's side table. Ella then left them to be, shutting the door behind her again.

"I never thought that would happen," Aria said in disbelief, regarding her situation with Ezra, but more recently with Ella.

"What?" Ezra asked her, wanting to hear her voice again, to catch up on their months apart.

"My mum bringing food to her daughter and her former friend, who happens to be her daughter's ex English teacher in bed on a Sunday morning," she giggled before kissing his neck.

"Aria-" he began, and she darted off him like an animal dodging hunters. "Wait-" he pleaded as she stood in the centre of her bedroom. She looked sick, and turned to leave her bedroom.

"ARIA" Ezra shouted at her. She froze, and timidly turned around. He calmed himself once again, and quickly stood and walked to her. "I told you, I'm not leaving you again. I only stopped you because- I have to make sure Maggie knows where she and I stand. Though we weren't a 'couple' couple; I would never want anyone to have the slightest chance to call you a crude name, like mistress, even if it were just shared kisses," he begged as she started to relax. She was grateful for what he was saying.

"And I need to move back to my apartment also before we resume _us," _he reassured before pulling her to him. All he wanted to do was kiss her right now, kiss her lips, her neck, her chest. He didn't want there to be any trace of cheating, though emotionally he was long gone in that respect. He sighed to himself, _he had never left Aria_, emotionally, and that reality now dawned on him. His next action was to move out of Maggie's place and into his apartment.

_**A few days later**_

"So, what's the arrangement?" Aria asked him as they unpacked boxes.

"I get Malcolm from Monday to Thursday. He's only just getting to know me, so he'll be with me those nights, yet of course being with Maggie during the day when at school. Jumping in with both feet," Ezra smiled, while unpacking his socks back into his sock draw of his apartment. Ezra reached for another box. Noticing it wasn't his handwriting on the side, he passed it to his girlfriend. Aria smiled and placed the box down to her feet, before gesturing towards his chest of draws with curiosity.

"So, which drawers are mine? You know, for _my_ shirts, my socks… my underwear," she said teasing him and he softly groaned while staring at her.

"I'm going to enjoy this new arrangement, aren't I?" Ezra gloated before nudging Aria to his bed as she squealed and laughed. They shifted so her head was against the pillows and she rested her hands on the sides of his face. There was a pause, a moment, before Aria's mind started ticking over. Ezra read her eyes and knew she was worrying. He searched her eyes as if trying to read her mind, her soul.

"Is Malcolm going to be okay with _me?_ A dad in his life, new living situations, new potential step-mum…" Aria broke off in worry as Ezra hovered over her.

His hand graced her cheek before he kissed her forehead. "I told you, my love, I'm not leaving you again. As I told you a few months ago, you're it for me. He'll get to know you sooner or later, so why not sooner rather than later if we're here for the long haul?" he reassured. She smiled feeling the chips falling perfectly.

"Okay," she said as he ran kisses down her neck. She lay giggling before sighing contently just before his mouth found her chest. Her legs wrapped around him and she pressed her heels into his behind, urging him to continue.

"My Aria," he mumbled making her smile. His mouth found her bare stomach and her breathing hitched. As he continued to kiss her abdomen her breathing turned into a pant. "Ezra," she whispered with a smile, closing her eyes, _euphoria_.

**Very short, but **_**hopefully**_** sweet. I'd be very surprised if something similar doesn't play out in 3B. Aria won't be moving in with Ezra, but the basic motions of him leaving her and then coming back I think are likely. Just had to get that little scenario out in print. Cool. **


End file.
